


Switching Sides

by flurblewig



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-06
Updated: 2010-03-06
Packaged: 2017-10-07 18:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/67929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flurblewig/pseuds/flurblewig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>The girl raised her perfectly-shaped eyebrows slightly. "Well well, the famous Cordelia. I thought you'd be taller." She flashed a quite impressively icy smile of her own. "I'm Kennedy. The Vampire Slayer." A pointed look at Harmony accompanied the word vampire. </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Switching Sides

**Author's Note:**

> S5 - goes AU at 'You're Welcome': Cordelia really did wake up.

"For Christ's sake. I never thought it would so fucking _hard_ to sell your soul to the devil."

At the sound of raised voices, Cordelia altered course and headed for Harmony's desk. As she approached, she saw a woman with long, chestnut-coloured hair leaning on it, getting in Harmony's face.

She cleared her throat and put on her best professional-but-taking-no-bullshit expression. "Is there a problem here?"

The girl turned to face her, and looked her blatantly up and down. "And who are you?"

Cordelia drew herself up to her full five-foot-seven-and-a-half and offered her iciest smile. "Cordelia Chase. And who are _you?_"

The girl raised her perfectly-shaped eyebrows slightly. "Well well, the famous Cordelia. I thought you'd be taller." She flashed a quite impressively icy smile of her own. "I'm Kennedy. The Vampire Slayer." A pointed look at Harmony accompanied the word _vampire._

"Yeah, well, I'm Harmony. The Executive Secretary. And I say who gets an appointment with Angel and who doesn't, so who's got the power now, huh?"

Cordelia held her hands up. "Okay now, why don't we just back this down a bit. Harmony, I'll handle this."

She stepped forward and placed a hand on Kennedy's arm. "Why don't you come with me?"

The girl directed a final venomous look at Harmony, but allowed herself to be led away.

 

"So," said Cordelia, shutting the door to her office. "What can we do for you at Wolfram &amp; Hart?"

Her smile faltered slightly as she turned back to see that Kennedy had settled herself in Cordelia's own chair, and swung her booted feet up onto the desk. _Slayers._ Obviously some things never changed. Still, at least they were good boots.

The girl grinned at her. "You can take me on."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard."

Cordelia backed up a half-step. "You want me to fight you?"

Kennedy laughed. "Fun as that sounds, no. I want you to hire me."

"You want me to give you a job?"

"Say, you're quick, aren't you? What exactly _is_ it you do around here?"

Cordelia decided to ignore that question - but only because it was beneath her dignity to give an answer, not because she didn't actually have one. She'd been the organisational heart and soul of Angel Investigations and okay, sure, things had, uh, _changed_ a little since she woke up, but she was still Cordelia. Still needed. Fancy corporate titles didn't change who you were. Especially if you could never remember them.

And if there was one thing she always knew, it was when something wasn't on the level.

She put her hands on her hips and faced Kennedy. "Why, exactly, do you even want a job? You said you're a Slayer, didn't you?"

"Right."

"Well doesn't that kinda mean you already have a job? Slaying? Last I knew, that was pretty much a full-time occupation."

"Maybe I'm not that impressed with the prospects."

"So you want to work here, instead?"

Kennedy took her feet off the desk and stood up. "Yes! Yes! God, what is wrong with you people? Is it that hard to understand? I want to switch sides, okay? I'm defecting to the enemy, embracing my inner evil, turning to the dark side of the Force and fuck, I have spent _way_ too much time with Andrew." She held her hands out, palm upwards. "Look, if nothing else, you gotta believe I want to get out of Geek City, right?"

Cordelia looked at her warily. She'd heard quite a bit about Andrew Wells from Angel and not much of it - well, not any of it, if she was honest - had been good. "I guess I could make some allowances on that score."

"_Thank_ you. Finally."

"But look - I don't know what you've been told, but - we're not evil. We don't want to buy your soul. Well, some of the guys in Accounting might, but not most of us. Not me, and not Angel."

Kennedy sank back down in the chair. "You're really not evil?"

"No. We're fighting the same fight as you guys are. Just with swankier décor."

"I thought - I thought - Willow said - "

Her voice cracked slightly on the name, and suddenly the bulging mental file called 'What Everyone Else Did During My Coma Vacation' sprang open. _Willow. South America. New girlfriend._

Maybe not so new, anymore. Cordelia bent down beside Kennedy, who was staring at the floor. "Hey. Why don't you tell me what this is really about?"

Kennedy pressed her lips together. "Come on," Cordelia prompted. "Willow said…?"

*

The bartender snapped to attention as soon as Cordelia approached. "Margaritas," she said. "Gold tequila, extra lime."

He nodded. "Right away, Miss Chase."

Kennedy gave her a look as they pulled their chairs up to the bar and sat down. "Good service you get round here."

"Another perk of the job. Wolfram &amp; Hart owns this place. In fact, Wolfram &amp; Hart owns most places."

Two cocktail glasses were set in front of them. Cordelia picked hers up, drained it in one long swallow, and set it back down. "Again," she said, coughing slightly.

When a fresh Margarita was made, she turned to Kennedy. "Okay. Now I have the fortification of alcohol, tell me again. Slower, this time."

"Willow," said Kennedy. "And Giles."

"Uh huh. Willow and Giles. Those things kind of go together. I can deal with that. Willow and Giles fight the monsters. Willow and Giles are part of the Scooby Gang. Fine. That computes. But Willow and Giles as in Willow _and_ Giles? Together? In, like, the Biblical sense? That most definitely does not compute."

Kennedy finished her own drink and signalled to the bartender. "You're preaching to the choir, baby."

"So you guys were together for, like - "

"A year. A whole year. And then she left me."

"For Giles."

"Yes."

"Willow. Left you. For _Giles."_

"Do you have to keep saying it?"

"We are talking about the same guy, right? Rupert Giles. Stuffy English dude."

Kennedy drained her second glass. "Not as stuffy as we thought, obviously."

"Wow. I mean, you know, bad. But also wow."

"Yeah, well. Guess you never really know people, right?"

Cordelia waved her again-empty glass. "Just keep these coming, okay? Company tab." She turned back to Kennedy. "Sometimes you do. Know people, I mean. Sometimes you know them all too well."

"You're talking about Angel, aren't you?"

Cordelia leaned back in her chair. "You're remarkably well-informed."

Kennedy shrugged and gave her a small smile. "Andrew talks a lot. You do know he and Harmony created their own chatroom, right?"

"Oh god. Andrew has a hotline to Harmony? Jeez, that must mean you guys know -"

"Pretty much everything she knows, yeah. Which isn't saying _all_ that much, but - "

"So you heard about what happened with Angel, then."

"Oh yeah. Before Harmony did, actually. Buffy talks quite a lot too, sometimes. Especially when she's - uh, excited."

Cordelia squeezed a wedge of lime into her glass, licking the juice from her fingers. "You know what she said? When she called?"

"Who, Buffy? No."

"The cookie dough has baked. Can you believe that? Christ. At least 'The Eagle has Landed' had some sort of mystique to it, you know? But no, those two just have to pursue the lameness to the end. 'The cookie dough has baked', and he's off, just like that." She sighed. "I thought - I mean, I know we had things to work out, sure, but - he was supposed to be over her. Especially with the whole Spike thing and all. It's been eight years, you know? Eight years. Okay, immortality probably puts a different spin on it, but still. Eight years. He was supposed to have moved _on_."

"To you."

"Yes. No. Well, maybe. We did kind of - but I guess that doesn't matter any more. All the time I knew, I just _knew,_ that if she ever crooked her finger he'd go running."

"Well, you know you can blame Willow for that, too."

"Huh? Oh, look, I know that it's tempting to start thinking your ex is the Messiah of All Evil, but- "

"No, I mean really. Giles got ambushed by a bunch of vamps, and he only just made it. Willow and Buffy went back to England, and ended up having this whole 'life is short and we could all die any minute and you've got to be with the one you really want while you can' kind of conversation."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, Willow bares her soul and just about everything else to Giles, and Buffy - "

"Buffy calls Angel."

"You got it."

Cordelia shook her head. "And you and me get trampled in the rush for Carpe Diem sex."

"Pretty much."

"Well that sucks."

Kennedy raised her glass in salute. "Sing it, sister."

"Men. Goddamn men. Who needs 'em?"

Kennedy shot her a grin. "Not me, for one."

"Oh, yeah. Right."

"You know what? We should hook up. Me and you. That would show 'em, wouldn't it?"

Cordelia gave a short laugh. "You know, it sure as hell would. Shame there's just one small problem."

"What's that?"

"I don't play for your side, remember?"

Kennedy licked the salt from the rim of her glass and gave her a long, slow smile. "Yeah. But who knows, maybe one day you might want to request a transfer. "

Cordelia remembered her own words - _goddamn men. Who needs' em?_ \- while another mental file spilled out some admittedly interesting-sounding information about pierced tongues. Maybe she _had_ been a little narrow-minded in the past...?

"Who knows?" she repeated with a grin. She raised her glass, and leaned over to clink it against Kennedy's. "Here's to switching sides."

 

\- End -


End file.
